Scotland remain in the hunt for one of two places for associate nations at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September but only after progressing from the group stage at the qualifying tournament in Dubai by the smallest margin.
The United States beat Scotland in their final group match by seven wickets yesterday, Orlando Baker hitting the winning runs off the penultimate ball. If the US had won one ball earlier, Scotland would have been eliminated on net run-rate.
Scotland and Kenya each won four matches in Group B, finishing behind Namibia and Ireland, but Scotland’s run-rate was better after their defeat by 0.007, sealing the third and final place in the knock-out round.
Aditya Mishra could have won the match earlier for the US, but the opening batsman was run out for 62 off the first ball of the final over, with them needing four more runs as they chased a target of 162. Safyaan Sharif, a 20-year-old medium-fast bowler from Dunfermline, then conceded only two runs from the next three balls to ensure that Scotland would just stay ahead of Kenya on run-rate.
However, Sharif strained his side in doing so and was unable to complete the over. Richie Berrington was asked to bowl the fifth ball, off which Baker hit the winning runs thanks to a dropped catch by Preston Mommsen.
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Scotland’s total of 161 was founded on Jan Stander’s innings of 58 off 31 balls, which included five sixes, but they lost eight wickets, leaving them a few runs shy of a winning total.
Kenya, who had lost their group match to Scotland, remained in the hunt for a place in the next round after beating Uganda by 48 runs and for a spell it seemed that Italy could also deny Scotland qualification, which might have stuck in the craw after the Six Nations rugby match between the sides at the weekend.
Michael di Venuto, the former Australia one-day player, and Gareth Berg, of Middlesex, quickly put on 53 for the first wicket as Italy chased Namibia’s 194 but when Di Venuto fell in the sixth over, Italy lost impetus, giving Namibia their seventh win in a row.
Scotland now face three sudden-death play-off matches in order to reach the final of the qualifying tournament and earn a place at the World Twenty20 in September, where the runners-up of this tournament will play in the same group as England and India.
First they must beat the Netherlands, who came second in Group A, tomorrow. The winners of that match will face the winners of Ireland against Canada for the right to play the losers of a match between the two group winners, Afghanistan and Namibia.
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Ireland completed their Group B schedule with a 44-run win over Oman in Abu Dhabi, which left Oman as the only winless team among the 16 sides taking part in the qualifying tournament. Afghanistan, who have not lost yet, ensured that they will need to win only one more match to qualify for the World Twenty20 by defeating Bermuda by 15 runs.